March 20, 2017

The Good Fight

By ANGELICA JADE BASTIÉN

Season 1, Episode 6: ‘Social Media and Its Discontents’

In 1999, Joss Whedon’s genre bending, pop feminist masterwork “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” aired “The Zeppo” in Season 3. The episode had several of the qualities that made the series an enduring cult hit, with one noticeable difference: It was told from the perspective of a sidekick, Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon). Giving Xander his own adventure separate from the rest of the cast gave viewers a new prism through which to filter “Buffy”’s potent ideas. “The Zeppo” illustrates how different a show can be when a character that exists in the margins is brought to the center. Watching Sunday’s episode of “The Good Fight,” I couldn’t help but wonder how different an episode would be if it took on the perspective of one of the black members of the firm. If any character on “The Good Fight” deserves its very own “Zeppo” episode, it’s Barbara.

Unlike Xander, Barbara isn’t an ineffectual sidekick. She’s a supremely capable attorney who is a name partner at a powerful black law firm, despite her young age. The actress Erica Tazel plays the role with a strong presence, so Barbara’s always noticeable, even when she’s not talking. Her frustration with Diane (over the tech mogul Neil Gross) is conveyed through tense expressions, sideways glances and a brief exchange with Boseman. I can’t help but think about what happens with Barbara in more private spaces. What are the conversations about office dynamics like when Diane isn’t around? How does everyone really feel about Julius’s politics? What is Barbara like outside the walls of the firm that bears her name? On shows in which black stories aren’t important, there are many black female characters like Barbara: professionally astute enigmas. But stories about black identity refracted through timely concerns are a cornerstone of “The Good Fight” so far.

In Episode 6, Gross needs the firm to come up with a method in order to cull the “alt-right” hate speech on two of his websites that is leading companies like Disney to threaten to pull their ads. The entire episode is interspersed with white men in front of brightly colored backgrounds looking directly at the camera and voicing racist, misogynist and often frightening comments. Before slinking off to make time with Colin, Lucca offers a valuable suggestion: an appeal board that would allow members suspended for hate speech a chance to make their case.

The suggestion immediately gets the attention of Felix Staples (John Cameron Mitchell). Felix is a gay, white provocateur who is bombastic, openly racist and downright foolish. He has a notable following as an alt-right leader. He makes disparaging remarks about black people while saying that he actually sleeps with black men. He most likely doesn’t believe a lot of what he says, but he delights in the attention. Sound familiar?

Felix taunts Diane by telling her that she reminds him of his mother. He ignores the fact that Julius is conservative, saying, “It doesn’t fit my narrative.” He tells his followers to target the firm with hate speech and even to use Neil Gross’s name as a replacement for a slur. By the end of episode, Diane realizes that the only way to beat Felix is to no longer give him the attention he craves. “You think this is a grand rebellion against progressives and social justice warriors; it’s not,” Diane says in her chilly takedown.

This story line may give a visceral thrill to anyone who has ever wanted to see Milo Yiannopoulos get some comeuppance. But I’m not sure the episode is effective beyond that. What is “The Good Fight” offering about the toxicity of internet culture and the hate speech pervading it beyond saying, “It’s terrible”? More compelling is the way Felix’s presence makes long simmering resentments at the firm unavoidable.

Julius’s position at work has been precarious since it was revealed that he voted for Trump. Julius shows a disconcerting lack of empathy. He’s standing behind an administration that does not support the causes the firm cares about, namely combating police brutality. He even undercuts Lucca and touts bogus studies to support his conservative beliefs. How has he survived at such a liberal firm for this long? While I don’t necessarily agree with Boseman’s having Jay investigate Julius with regards to a potential leak, his decision isn’t surprising. It was only a matter of time before Julius left, but having him quit for this reason is inelegant writing.

So much about “The Good Fight” is predicated on perspective. Even when Gross discusses matters with Barbara and Boseman instead of Diane (following her admission that they know Chumhum is responsible for the leak, not Julius), we’re still meant to care about Diane’s feelings. The series would benefit from fleshing out Barbara or even Lucca, who gives “The Good Fight” a jolt of sexual energy. How different would an episode like this be if Lucca’s perspective was more central? How much stronger would “The Good Fight” be if the interior lives of its black characters were made just as important as the dramatic fodder their identity politics provides?

Other Gossip:

• Costuming is remarkably strong on this series. The loud, clashing patterns worn by several characters in this episode were a visual shorthand for the confusion among and distance between them.

• The episode ends with Colin’s warning Lucca about her firm’s finances and about a client named Trevor Leopold whom Boseman did shady dealings with. But Leopold doesn’t exist. He’s a fictitious client that Elsbeth advised Maia to tell her father about in order to suss out his allegiances. Jax’s warning turns out to be true. Henry cares more about his freedom than about Maia’s well-being, enough so that he wears a wire to pass information to Mike Kresteva. At this point, Maia can’t have blind loyalty to her family.

• Marissa is a fun character, but I think she only works in small doses.